1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to media devices and, more particularly, to synchronization or management of media on media devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Synchronization operations have been conventionally performed between portable devices, such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and host computers, to synchronize electronic files or other resources. For example, these files or other resources can pertain to text files, data files, calendar appointments, emails, to-do lists, electronic rolodexes, etc. However, such synchronization schemes tend to utilize filenames and modification dates to determine whether files need to be copied between the devices.
In the case of media players, such as music players, files are typically moved between a host computer and a media player through use of a drag and drop operation, like that conventionally done with respect to copying of a data file from a Windows desktop to a floppy disk. Hence, a user of the media player manually initiates the synchronization for individual media assets. As a consequence, synchronization also tends to be tedious and time consuming for users. Synchronization tends to be slow because data is transmitted between devices over a slow link. More recently, synchronization of a music player with a host computer has been able to be automatically initiated once a bus connection over a peripheral cable connects the music player to the host computer. As an example of such a system, see U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2003/0167318 A1. However, such automated synchronization involves media assets of a single media type, namely songs. Other media types, such as images, present new and different challenges when attempting to provide synchronization.
Thus, there is a need for improved techniques for improved approaches to synchronize media devices and host computers.